In today’s Gospel reading from John 1 we learn (v 19) that the Jews sent “priests and Levites” from Jerusalem to ask John who he was. The Greek word from which our word ‘priest’ derives is presbuteros, but this word does not mean ‘priest’ in the New Testament. It usually means ‘elder’. The word entered English in a truncated form: the ending ‘-os’ of presbuteros disappeared, giving presbuter, and then the middle syllable was dropped, leaving prester. This was then further reduced to ‘priest’ (variously spelt ‘preost’, ‘preest’ etc), but for a while the form prester is found, the most famous example being ‘Prester John’. Prester John was a figure of mediaeval legend, a fabled Christian emperor of the Orient who ends up in the 14th century as Emperor of Abyssinia. Presbyterian Churches, such as the Presbyterian Church of Scotland (which is the established Church in Scotland), use a form of ecclesiastical government in which lay elders (‘presbyters’) play a prominent part. Historically, Presbyterian Churches have been strongly Calvinistic in their doctrine. In the 17th century John Milton could write, “New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ large’, an ironic reversal of the true etymology.